A new survey shows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is more popular in the Sacramento
region than in California as a whole, although approval varies greatly along
racial, political party and county lines.

The survey, conducted by Sacramento State Professor Amy Liu and students through
the University’s Institute for Social Research, showed that nearly half
of Sacramento region residents (49 percent) shared positive views of the governor’s
job performance versus 35 percent of the residents in California. White residents
(56 percent) and Republican voters (79 percent) were much more likely to regard
his job performance positively than other racial groups (30 percent) and Democrats
(28 percent).

The survey also found that a majority of residents in El Dorado (62 percent)
and Placer (59 percent) counties found the governor’s leadership commendable,
while 45 percent of Sacramento and 42 percent of Yolo counties said they did
not approve of the way Schwarzenegger handled his job.
However, the Sacramento region’s support of the governor has made a sharp
decline in the past two years. Gov. Schwarzenegger enjoyed a 65 percent approval
rating in the region in 2004 as opposed to the recent 49 percent.

Other findings include:

Gov. Schwarzenegger is more popular than the specific issues he addresses.
Fully 59 percent of Sacramento area residents disapprove of how he handles
public education, and approximately half dislike how he deals with affordable
housing (52 percent) and the state budget (50 percent).

The governor’s chance of being re-elected to office differs greatly
along political party lines. A majority of Republicans (67 percent) would
vote for Gov. Schwarzenegger, while only 10 percent of Democratic and 26 percent
of other registered voters would. More than half of Democratic voters (54
percent) would vote for the Democratic nominee and 45 percent of other voters
would vote for any other nominee.

Since the governor declared a state of emergency for the levees in the Central
Valley, the approval rating in the Sacramento region for how he is dealing
with flood control has risen. Before the declaration, 37 percent of residents
approve of how he handled flood control, 36 percent didn’t approve and
27 percent said they didn’t know. After the declaration, 53 percent
of residents approve of his efforts to protect California from floods and
only 15 percent don’t know about his performance on that issue.

The
survey was a computer-assisted telephone interview of 1,122 randomly selected
households in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties. It has a margin
of error of 3 percent.